Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Yeah, and now they are offering indie writers a deal if they sign up "exclusively" with Amazon. We'd get to be in prime lending and possibly get some marketing opportunities (the only one spelled out is 5 days of listing the book for free.)

. . .

From the indie perspective though...to be included in prime lending is a huge exposure op. And those who jump on quickly stand to gain the most.

Thoughts?

Well, in my case, then, there would be no chance of a sale or even of my learning about the author or the book(s). I simply do not shop at or buy from Amazon, nor do I visit the Amazon website.

Having said that, I recognize that I am in a distinct minority of readers.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I just noticed there are over 17,000 books Prime eligible. It seems many find it popular.

Hmmm. How long would it take to run through the 17,000 books to find a new book by author XYZ, assuming you didn't already know of the author or the book? Seems to me that 17,000 is a large sea in which to get easily lost, so what's the advantage to doing exclusivity?

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Hmmm. How long would it take to run through the 17,000 books to find a new book by author XYZ, assuming you didn't already know of the author or the book? Seems to me that 17,000 is a large sea in which to get easily lost, so what's the advantage to doing exclusivity?

My opinion is that unless your book is already a top seller, there is probably little advantage to Amazon exclusivity. Prime members can borrow only one ebook per month, and readers aren't likely to choose a relatively unknown book over a bestseller. But many authors seem to feel differently. Yesterday morning there were 10,732 books in the program, and now there are 35,019 (at this moment—and climbing fast)!

One perk is that participating authors can choose to make their book free for 5 days during the 90-day term. If you have a series of books, this can be a benefit because if the reader likes your free book they may purchase other books in the series. And it's always good to expose as many people as possible to your work. Before this program, indie authors could not request that their books be priced free at Amazon; they had to go through price-matching hoops, which doesn't always work. So that is an advantage for some.

Every author's experience is different, but for most Amazon is where they sell the vast majority of their ebooks. So if 98% of their sales are coming from Amazon already, having the potential to share in the $500,000+ monthly pot is very enticing. I don't blame them really. Many do depend on royalties to pay for everyday expenses. If your book's doing well and most of your royalties come from Amazon already, this may be a smart business decision. If you were selling only 2% of your books elsewhere, there's little risk and potential for gain. And you can opt-out of the program after 90 days, so you're not committed for life.

The decision to not participate in KDP Select was relatively easy for my husband, but I know that many authors are very torn about this. They truly do not want to alienate readers who use ePub, but many do have to follow the money and feel that it's worth taking a short-term risk for a potential gain.

I'm certain that the top-selling indie authors participating in KDP Select will be raking in some serious cash. I'm very interested to see how this works out for relatively unknown authors and how many will choose to continue after the initial 90-day period.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Of course readers are going to complain to you. It is you who would have signed the exclusive deal. That exclusive deal leaves a lot of bad feelings for people who don't buy eBooks from Amazon. Sure I could buy from Amazon, strip the DRM, convert to ePub and read. But why would I want to? There's enough out there that I can get in ePub that I would not buy anything of yours ever again. Going exclusive with Amazon is a bad idea and anyone who does it is just looking for trouble.

It should possibly be noted here that many indie authors don't have DRM on their Amazon books--so you would not have to strip the DRM. You would still have to convert it to ePub.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

It should possibly be noted here that many indie authors don't have DRM on their Amazon books--so you would not have to strip the DRM. You would still have to convert it to ePub.

That is true. Unfortunately, there is no consistency in determining whether a Kindle book has DRM or not.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

It should possibly be noted here that many indie authors don't have DRM on their Amazon books--so you would not have to strip the DRM. You would still have to convert it to ePub.

Yes, but, not owning a kindle, i'm just not going to browse books at amazon. So as far as i'm concerned, your book have zero chance of being noticed.

An author i know, some book I ABSOLUTLY want to read, I might look at amazon as a last resort, but not for the rest.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Fbone

That is true. Unfortunately, there is no consistency in determining whether a Kindle book has DRM or not.

You can tell whether a Kindle ebook has DRM by the information on its product page under Product Details. It'll say "Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited" if there's no DRM, as in this example for The Right Side of the Fairway:

Product Details

    Format: Kindle Edition
    File Size: 493 KB
    Print Length: 277 pages
    Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1463759568
    Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
    Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
    Language: English
    ASIN: B005C1N4VE
    Lending: Enabled

A lot of indie authors do sell their books without DRM. It is a pain to have to check the Product Details for each book—and then you have to convert it to ePub, of course. It is definitely a hassle, I agree.

Many authors who have joined KDP Select are now making their Kindle ebooks FREE, and there will be many more doing so in the coming months. Just within the last 24 hours, 1,078 Kindle ebooks have been made free. You can see a list at eReaderIQ. Tip: I found more higher-rated books toward the end of that list (sorted by "last 24 hours"). I did find some interesting books there. Just set aside a chunk of time because there's a lot of rubbish to go through too!

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Fbone

That is true. Unfortunately, there is no consistency in determining whether a Kindle book has DRM or not.

I agree. It is possible to use the "unlimited" as key, but I'm not positive that it always means no DRM. And I really don't expect readers to go about sorting and guessing. I like to note it though because we do make a conscious choice to try and make the lives of our readers easier.

On my blog when I asked the question about whether readers care if an author does an exclusive, most were quite understanding of how and why it might be necessary or beneficial.

One thing I haven't seen noted here or there is that...it's Christmas. Even if I thought exclusivity would help me, I can't see pulling selections off other retailers at this time of year. It's the highest sales time of year on ALL sites. So pulling a book off other sites for this particular 90 days makes no sense to me at all.

[Suzanna]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

Just within the last 24 hours, 1,078 Kindle ebooks have been made free.

I think this freebie thing might backfire. I will sometimes download freebies from Amazon, then convert them to read on my Kobo. Seeing that number, though, just makes me shudder. I know there are probably some gems in there, but there's probably a lot more that's less than stellar. My love for freebies is not strong enough to make me want to wade through more than 1000 self-published books, looking for those gems. If that number continues to go up, I think my looking-at-Amazon-for-freebies days are over.

I'll probably continue to check out books that others recommend, but there's no way I'm wading through all that!

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

You can tell whether a Kindle ebook has DRM by the information on its product page under Product Details. It'll say "Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited" if there's no DRM, as in this example for The Right Side of the Fairway:

Product Details

    Format: Kindle Edition
    File Size: 493 KB
    Print Length: 277 pages
    Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1463759568
    Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
    Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
    Language: English
    ASIN: B005C1N4VE
    Lending: Enabled

A lot of indie authors do sell their books without DRM. It is a pain to have to check the Product Details for each book—and then you have to convert it to ePub, of course. It is definitely a hassle, I agree.

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I agree. It is possible to use the "unlimited" as key, but I'm not positive that it always means no DRM. And I really don't expect readers to go about sorting and guessing. I like to note it though because we do make a conscious choice to try and make the lives of our readers easier.

Yes, if the "Unlimited" is present, there is no DRM. Unfortunately, many if not most DRM-free ebooks don't say "Unlimited." They don't say anything.

Here is an example. Barry Eisler's The Detachment is DRM-free but isn't noted in the product description. Mr Eisler himself went out of his way to ensure it was DRM-free and blogged about it.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Detachment...3563546&sr=1-1

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 947 KB
Print Length: 325 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1612181554
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (September 15, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B005CDHZS0
Lending: Enabled

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Sao

Seeing that number, though, just makes me shudder.

I dug through the first couple of pages today and wasn't happy at all. Lots of bad covers, and so much erotica that I had to scrap my plan to provide the custom search link on my website -- it just wouldn't have been safe for people browsing at work.

I'm a HUGE self-publishing cheerleader, but this just... looked bad, imho.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Sao

I think this freebie thing might backfire. I will sometimes download freebies from Amazon, then convert them to read on my Kobo. Seeing that number, though, just makes me shudder. I know there are probably some gems in there, but there's probably a lot more that's less than stellar. My love for freebies is not strong enough to make me want to wade through more than 1000 self-published books, looking for those gems. If that number continues to go up, I think my looking-at-Amazon-for-freebies days are over.

I'll probably continue to check out books that others recommend, but there's no way I'm wading through all that!

There are a few sites that cover indies so you could cross check there for some that might be free. Red Adept reviews, GraceKrispy (she's here on Mobileread now and then--I met her here.) And...there are some others. (This is in no way about my books; none are free.)

I tend to pick up the freebies when they are mentioned ALONG with a review from dailycheapreads, books on the knob or one of the above sites that I trust. Haven't had much luck just picking up freebies randomly.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Sao

I think this freebie thing might backfire. I will sometimes download freebies from Amazon, then convert them to read on my Kobo. Seeing that number, though, just makes me shudder. I know there are probably some gems in there, but there's probably a lot more that's less than stellar. My love for freebies is not strong enough to make me want to wade through more than 1000 self-published books, looking for those gems. If that number continues to go up, I think my looking-at-Amazon-for-freebies days are over.

I'll probably continue to check out books that others recommend, but there's no way I'm wading through all that!

With eReaderIQ you can deselect genres you aren't interested in.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I dug through the first couple of pages today and wasn't happy at all. Lots of bad covers, and so much erotica that I had to scrap my plan to provide the custom search link on my website -- it just wouldn't have been safe for people browsing at work.

I'm a HUGE self-publishing cheerleader, but this just... looked bad, imho.

I agree; it's a big mess! I did go through the entire list of 1,078 books today, and I had no interest whatsoever in over 95% of the books. And this is just the beginning! The authors who join KDP Select can make their Kindle ebooks free for 5 days during the 90-day contract. I expect that many are waiting to do so until after Christmas and in January, when all the new Kindle owners will be looking for books.

[emellaich]

The terms and conditions are here:
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishi...=APILE934L348N

I see that an author's share of the pie will be based on their share of total lending in the prime program. If there are a total of 100 checkouts of prime books in a month and a particular book is checked out one time, then the author of that book will get one percent of the total. In reality, I expect that most of the money will go to a handful of books.